OrthodoxWiki:Style Manual (Churches)

This page is an official policy on OrthodoxWiki. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. If you are part of the administration, please feel free to update this page as needed, but make sure that changes you make to this policy really do reflect OrthodoxWiki's perspective before you make them.

Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches

Refer to autocephalous and autonomous churches by this form when creating new articles and links: Church of Place. Referring with the adjectival form of the place (e.g., Smogarian Orthodox Church) is not only essentially incorrect but furthers the ethnic stereotyping of the Church. Thus, instead of Smogarian Orthodox Church, you would use Church of Smogaria.

The only current exception to this rule is the Orthodox Church in America, whose autocephaly is still in debate. To call it the Church of America would be to lend it a status not currently agreed upon (nor really even claimed by the OCA itself).

Non-Chalcedonian, Roman Catholic, and other Churches

Many Non-Chalcedonian and Roman Catholic churches have parallel sees to those among Chalcedonian Orthodox, so distinction needs to be made. Refer to these parallel sees with this convention: Church of Place (Common Identifier). So, the Coptic church centered in Egypt would be Church of Alexandria (Coptic), or the Syrian Catholic Church would be the Church of Antioch (Catholic).

For non-Latin Rite churches within the Roman Catholic Church, using Roman in the name could be misleading for two reasons:

Such churches typically do not refer to themselves as Roman, often stressing that fact very strenuously.

Such a designation may also mislead readers into thinking that such churches are Latin Rite, which they usually are not.

The fact that these churches are subject to the Vatican would be noted in the relevant articles.

In other places, there are no parallel sees, so one would simply use the Church of Place convention, e.g., the Church of Armenia.

Non-Mainstream Churches

Such churches will generally be referred to by whatever official name they call themselves, e.g., the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (a.k.a. the "Suzdalites") rather than as the Church of Russia. If they claim a title identical with that of one of the mainstream Chalcedonian churches, an appropriate modifier would be included in parentheses, e.g., Church of Alexandria (Smogarian).

There is some potential ambiguity here, especially regarding the Oriental Orthodox, but let's keep them as an exception, mainly due to their closeness with the Chalcedonian Orthodox and the ongoing talks regarding reunification.

"Denominations"

Orthodox bodies should be referred to as jurisdictions or churches rather than denominations insofar as they may have diverse administrative structures but share a common faith. The Orthodox Church itself should not be referrred to as a denomination (as if one among many equally legitimate Christian bodies), but as "the Church."

In general, the term denomination should be avoided when possible. In common usage, the term implies an ecclesiological relativism that is incompatible with Orthodox faith. Other Christian organizations can be referenced by their proper name or with general references such as groups, organizations, communions, etc.